Beginners Questions > Good ones I promise!

[kaizan]

Hi,

I have built my 1st full system that I am totally happy with. I am however totally new to tweeking and overclocking because of this. There is a lot of stuff out there on how to overclock etc but seeing as this board has pretty much the very best of it all I have decided to seek some pro advice.

You can see my system specs in my signature below. Basically I have a few questions and you guys will be the most helpfull to answer I think.

1) Should I overclock using BIOS or windows based software?

2) Is Asus AI software any good? Are there any indepth reviews avaialble?

3) Is the nTune Software any good? Can I trust its benchmark results?

4) I am told my RAM is top quality and should overclock really well. How do I do this?

5) How can I truly gague I am getting maximum performance from my SLI setup? I like Rome: Total War and HL2

6) What are the best benchmarking apps to use that are availabe on the net and up-to-date. I don't mind spending cash on them.

If anyone wants to help be o/c this little ah heck we can chat vie MSN as I have another machine here and we can do it live! Then post the full results here and hopefully I can do a cool write up on a 1st time user experience.

Kai.

 

[imverygifted]

1. if you overclock your FSB/multiplier/memory you need to use your motherboard or asus might have some integrated software that goes straight to the bios but i usually use bios, if its vid card you use nvidias coolbits or expert tools

2. dont kno, never used it

3. dont kno, never used it

4. since your using an a64 i heard timings dont matter too much but you can always lower them or increase the speed they run at make, default should be 200mhz then you can increase in small increments making sure the system is still stable.

5. use a benchmark and compare a single card w/ ur sli to make sure there is an increase

6. 3d mark and aquamark are a good start

 

[Architect]

since your using an a64 i heard timings dont matter too much but you can always lower them or increase the speed they run at make, default should be 200mhz then you can increase in small increments making sure the system is still stable.

Actually, they kind of do; as the overall timings affect the overall speed of the RAM and that affects the performance that the CPU has to offer. Only AthlonXPs fluctuate when the HTT/FSB - Depending on Intel or AMD, and RAM FSB are asynchronous. Otherwise, AMD64's benefit if the RAM and HTT/FSB is higher than stock.